Global miner BHP Group BHP said on Tuesday it would pay A$110 million ($72.52 million) to settle an Australian shareholder class action related to the deadly 2015 Fundao tailings dam collapse.

The class action was filed in the Federal Court of Australia in 2018 on behalf of the shareholders who had acquired BHP shares prior to the Fundao Dam failure.

The dam collapse at an iron ore mine owned by Samarco near the city of Mariana in southeastern Brazil had killed 19 people. The disaster also left hundreds of people homeless and flooded forests and polluted the Doce River.

Samarco is a joint venture between BHP’s Brazilian unit and miner Vale VALE3.

In 2024, a Brazilian federal court ruled that Vale, BHP and Samarco were not criminally liable for the dam collapse.

BHP, the world’s largest listed miner, said it expects to recover the majority of the settlement amount from its insurers.
Source: Reuters